Under the chant of “Boycott” “Boycott,” pro-immigrant groups called on people to stop buying things at Home Depot stores, accusing the company of aiding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they target day laborers at those locations.
“Out of 15 stores in the greater Los Angeles area, there have been kidnappings by the migra in 14 of them. That’s a pretty high percentage,” said Ron Gochez, founder of Los Angeles’ Union del Barrio chapter, noting that this can not be mere coincidence.
“Are we going to let them get away with kidnappings?,” Gochez asked the crowd gathered at a Home Depot along Slauson Ave. in South Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon.
“No” the crowd responded before Gochez asked everyone to “not spend a single penny at the Home Depot.”
“You will not catch me at another Home Depot store unless I am protesting it,” Gochez added.
Union del Barrio is leading the boycott charge and which has become the main source for real time, verified ICE sightings in the city. Their army of volunteers and supporters are usually present whenever and wherever raids take place, and in the past month, those places are usually Home Depot sites.
Since June 6, when more than a dozen people were taken into custody by federal agents at a Home Depot in the Westlake area, the stores have become ground zero for President Trump’s immigration push. From San Fernando to Paramount, and from Hollywood to Pomona, ICE agents have repeatedly hit the parking lots of these establishments looking to arrest people.
Maegan Ortiz, Executive Director of Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA), said that the Migra has “attacked” each of the five day labor centers in Los Angeles – three of them at Home Depot sites—that they run.
Ortiz also said that when Home Depot expanded in Los Angeles, the company agreed to provide a safe space for day laborers at their locations.
“They have turned their back on that agreement,” Ortiz said.
“They forgot that it’s because of day laborers that they’ve been able to earn millions of dollars in Los Angeles,” she said, before adding that, “We’re not going to respect them and we’re not going to buy in their stores.”
Also on hand at the press conference was Roofers Local 36 Business Manager Cliff Smith, who called on the store to support the community or else.
“If Home Depot is going to take sides with Donald Trump and Stephen Miller, it’s war on Home Depot,” he said.
HOME DEPOT RESPONDS
In an email to Parriva, Beth Marlowe, spokesperson for Home Depot, rejected the activists’ accusations.
“These claims aren’t true,” she said. “We aren’t notified that ICE activities are going to happen, we aren’t involved in them, and in many cases, we don’t know that arrests have taken place until after they’re over.”
“We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate,” she added.
TIME TO UNITE
Odilia Romero, Executive Director of Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), said many of those caught in recent raids at the Home Depot store in South Los Angeles where the press conference was taking place are Zapotecos, Mayas, Quiche and from many other indigenous communities.
But she noted that federal agents are going against anyone with brown skin, even legal residents and citizens.
“Everyone’s rights are at risk, regardless of your legal status in this country,” she said.
She encouraged people in the community to come together and “fight for our rights.”
Gochez said they have four demands from Home Depot, including that they voice a public opposition to the raids, prohibit all federal immigration agents from entering their stores and parking lots, protect day laborers, and to compensate the families of those negatively impacted by the immigration raids in their property.
He promised that in the coming weeks, there will be people with banners and flyers protesting in front of Home Depot stores throughout the city.
